


Solitary Island

by fjaeril



Series: The Rise and Fall of General Chere [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Cid is dead, mildly canon-divergent (see author's note)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 06:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14254827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fjaeril/pseuds/fjaeril
Summary: Far to the south, miles away from the nearest inhabited land mass, there’s an island.





	Solitary Island

Far to the south, miles away from the nearest inhabited land mass, there’s an island. No one knows exactly when or even how this little piece of land came to be. It has no name, doesn’t appear on any of the maps from the old world.

No one lives on the island, but there are signs that someone might have at some point, long ago. A ramshackle house, more rotting planks and creeper vines than structure. What might be the remains of a landing-stage, reaching out from the rocky beachside towards the ocean. 

The most damning evidence of human activity on the island is the grave. It couldn’t be anything else -- a patch where the earth the grass is decisively thinner, marked with a wooden cross. The cross, made out of what looks to be planks torn straight from the ruined house, has three letters carved into it. A name. 

At the northern edge of the island, constantly tormented by the ocean winds, stands a cliff. Marking the island’s highest point, the rock-face casts a looming shadow over the rest of the island. A thin path leads up the cliff, winding up and up and up. 

It ends, the path, in a narrow plateau near the very top of the cliff. An observer would have the cold stone of the cliff at their back and full view of the ocean, endless and all-consuming, on all sides. A thick carpet of weeds covers most of the base of the plateau itself, clumps of grass and wildflowers growing stubbornly until the very edge where feral winds prevent them. 

Here, lodged firmly into a clump of grass, stands the second proof that the island might not be as unknown and unexplored as it seems. A sword. 

It’s a rather curious thing, the blade cut from something not-quite-metal that gives it the appearance of being made out of glass or crystal. A long piece cloth is tied tightly around the hilt, a torn banner fluttering in the wind, the fabric a bleached memory of its original, distinctly purple colour. 

The sword might have been pretty at some point, before winds and salty air and opportunistic lichens got to it. Now, it could easily be mistaken for being part of the cliff, just another piece of rock. 

But when the sun begins to set, and darkness prepares to engulf the little island completely, something happens. The last rays of the sun hit the strange blade just right, and for a brief moment, the sword _glows_ , bright as a star against the darkening sky.

No one knows who the sword once belonged to, or the part she played in bringing life back to the world. The wielder herself is never coming back for it, but every now and then, she’ll see a reflection of the sun somewhere, shards of literal starlight dancing across her field of vision. 

And she will remember, with equal measures of joy and sorrow, the little island where she died and was reborn.

**Author's Note:**

> Now the very canon-savvy reader might note that I've taken artistic liberties regarding a couple of things.
> 
> Celes' sword is probably the major one. Not too long ago I read bits and pieces of [this](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/321839/1/Final_Fantasy_VI_The_Novel) FFVI-fic, wherein the author describes Celes’ starting weapon as this really gorgeous sword, with literal runes on it and everything. After doing some research, I found out that Celes actually has no starting weapon, and that while there is a weapon called a “rune blade” in the game, it’s not exclusive to Celes. 
> 
> That seemed like a shame to me, so I decided to go with the headcanon that Celes does indeed have a “rune sword” which is exclusive to her. 
> 
> As for the reason _why_ the sword is there… I imagine that Celes, once everything is over and done with, would like to return to Solitary Island once more, just to check on Cid’s grave and to leave the sword. She’s saved the world, and now she’s done fighting -- for good. 
> 
> Fun fact: In Swedish, there's an actual word for when the sun reflects off of a surface, like the face of a watch or a water surface. It’s called a “solkatt” (which translates literally to “sun cat”.) I don’t think there’s any English variant of it(?), which is kind of too bad because words that sum up an entire concept like that are really useful. 
> 
> Additional fun fact: I only intended to write this fic(let?) as a very short snippet to jot down the bare bones of it and then get back to studying, but then an hour went by and I kind of felt like this could stand on its own, so… Here we are.


End file.
